Ratnagiri: Former Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray demanded a swap between the proposed refinery project with the Vedanta-Foxconn and Tata-Airbus projects that are coming up in Gujarat, here on Saturday.
After meeting the locals protesting against the Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL), Thackeray slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre and in the state for giving ‘bad projects’ to Maharashtra.
“Maharashtra gets only ‘raakh’ (ashes), while Gujarat gets ‘rangoli’… If this RRPCL project is so good, then please take it to Gujarat and give back the Vedanta-Foxconn and Tata-Airbus to Maharashtra…,” Thackeray said.
He said that there was no opposition to Vedanta-Foxconn or Tata-Airbus but the locals in Barsu (Ratnagiri) are against the proposed Rs 3 lakh-crore RRPCL project coming up with Arab help.
“If the refinery project is so good, then why have you deployed thousands of policemen here… Why the police atrocities against the people who are opposing it, with caning and tear-gassing, externments,” he asked.
Thackeray reiterated that he had proposed the Barsu site to the Centre when he was the CM, but that did not mean it would be forced down the people without considering their views.
“The government must come here, visit the villages, make a presentation on this project to the people, explain to them about its importance… But what is going on now? Stop this dictatorial approach to push through this project, or else the masses will uproot your authoritarianism and the state will burn,” warned Thackeray.
Thackeray also slammed Union MSME Minister Narayan Rane saying he had earlier been strongly opposed to the project, but now he has taken a ‘contract’ to support it.
He alleged that many people may have taken ‘commission’ for the huge property deals which they would have to return if the RRPCL project is shifted, that is the reason they want to bulldoze the people’s opposition and implement it here.
Earlier, accompanied by Leader of Opposition (Council) Ambadas Danve, he visited two villages that shall be affected by the proposed RRPCL plant that is likely to come up in the Rajapur tehsil where soil-strata testing has been taken up amidst strong protests by the locals since the past 12 days.
He met and freely interacted with the villagers of Solgaon and Barsu, sought their views on the RRPCL venture, and reiterated that without their nod, the project shall not be allowed to come up there.
The state government had deployed tight security at all the locations Thackeray, Danve, district party leaders and others visited on Saturday, ahead of his rally in Mahad, around 40 kms away from the RRPCL vicinity, later this evening.
(IANS)
